This is one of those movies where if you blink, you'd miss it because its small enough to just disappear beneath the weight of its more expensive cinematic brothers. But if you do miss, it'd be a loss as its a gem of a movie which deftly balances between the spirit of a western flick and that of good old fashioned creature horror film, the kind which makes your skin crawl and make you look behind your back every few minutes.
The Skinny: Its the wild wild west in 1879 and a posse of cowboy hunters and a small military unit set out on a search and rescue mission to seek and rescue a family believed to have been kidnapped by a group of native Americans (thats right, injuns). What they encounter is something else altogether, something which lives under the earth and comes out for feeding at night ...things known as 'the Burrowers'.
The Helmer: JT Petty - Blood Red Earth (2008), The Burrowers (2007 TV), S&Man (2006), Mimic: Sentinel (2003 V), Soft for Digging (2001)
The Casts: Clancy Brown (John Clay), Karl Geary (Fergus Coffey), William Marphother (William Parcher).
The Verdict: This is a great movie. Excellent cinematography, great script, good atmosphere. It succeeds in establishing a rounded western at the same time coincide with a solid horror flick. But what takes it above the norm for western-meets-horror genre, is that it is unapologetic. Don't expect the 'right' turning of events, or the characters to do the right thing. It is focused on one thing only, and that is to depict the story on a what-if basis: What if horrible underground life-sucking creatures were to terrorize the wild wild west?
Trailer
Great Write-Up
